Icebreakers, explosives help ease flooding

Published Wednesday, May 23, 2001

YAKUTSK, Russia -- Workers used icebreakers and explosives Tuesday to destroy two ice floes -- one 18 miles long -- jamming the swollen Lena River, trying to ease flooding that has killed at least five people in the Siberian region.

Workers dumped loads of sand to reinforce dikes around the regional capital Yakutsk as the river's level rose to a record 30 feet and floodwaters threatened to encroach on the city center, said Tatyana Tarasova, a spokeswoman for the regional government.

In Lensk, a town about 500 miles to the southwest, about 14,000 people were left homeless, state television reported, after flooding from the Lena last week washed away 1,800 dwellings.